Article Overview

Loudness has never looked this good

TC TouchMonitor TM7 & TM9 is a loudness meter solution, featuring touch screen and an extremely consistent loudness readout

For decades, TC Electronic has explored and pioneered the field of digital audio and loudness metering, offering state of the art tools for measuring, correcting and converting audio for a wide variety of applications. For instance, the amazing Radar Meter is available as a software plug-in (LM5D) for Pro Tools HD and TC Electronic’s award-winning System 6000 MKII platform, DB4 and DB8 broadcasting processors and the newly introduced LM2 rack based stereo loudness meter, and now it will also be available as part of the new TC TouchMonitor TM7 & TM9 stand-alone loudness meter.

TC Electronic introduces its first stand-alone, multichannel loudness meter, featuring touch screen with highly flexible layout options: TC TouchMonitor TM7 & TM9

The TC TouchMonitor TM7 & TM9 is a full-featured stereo and multichannel loudness and true-peak level meter, which is perfect not only for broadcast ingest and transmission, but also for post, film and live production. To comply with a given international broadcasting standard, the numbers representing loudness are paramount, and these all-important digits are displayed instantly on the large color touch screen.

The new loudness meter comes in 6 basic configurations based on connectivity, features and physical size. Users will be able to choose between 7” or 9” touch screen, stereo or multichannel and whether they want the Radar Meter to be included with the multichannel version or not. Further, it is possible to choose between a number of I/O options. As standard, TC TouchMonitor TM9 comes with 16 digital balanced I/O, and TC TouchMonitor TM7 features 8 analog plus 8 digital I/O. However, an additional number of I/O configurations on either balanced or unbalanced connectors (Sub-D or BNC) are available as well. An SDI 3G I/O card will be available for TM9 in 2011.

Finally, the new loudness meter also features a number of highly innovative and very flexible features that will make the everyday lives of professional broadcasters easier as well as help achieving ultimate end results. For example, the large color screen can be configured to meet any need imaginable. One screen layout could be to let the Radar Meter fill out the left (or right) side of the screen, while the remaining space could be used for other instruments such as a Phase Meter or a Surround Sound Analyzer, but it would also be possible to monitor several Radar Meters simultaneously by resizing them to fit the screen. In other words, the screen layout can be tailored in order to be optimized for any type of application.

TM7 & TM9 are available in December 2010. Prices start from $4,264 USD MSRP

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TC TouchMonitor TM7 & TM9 Main Features

• 7” or 9” color touch screen (16:9 TFT) – Loudness has never looked this good
• Extremely consistent readouts – Consistent result at all times
• Conforms to international broadcast standards – Including American, European and Japanese
• Easy and fast touch screen control – Context-sensitive on-screen help
• Extremely flexible screen layout options – Resize and reposition any instrument (meter type)
• Powerful DSP – Parallel display of multiple instruments
• Flexible I/O options – Including analog, AES3, AES3id, etc. SDI 3G version available in 2011
• Connectivity – Ethernet/LAN, USB, VGA and GPIO ports
• Modular software structure – Add optional instruments as the need arises

TC TouchMonitor TM7 & TM9 online

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Global Loudness, True-peak Standardization and TC Electronic

Ten years ago the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) launched a research project that eventually became recommendation BS.1770. The worthy goal of this project was to change the focus of the broadcast industry away from sample peak and quasi-peak level to program loudness, thereby not automatically having commercials, promos and pop music louder than other programming. Having studied the same phenomena for years, TC Electronic decided early on to contribute to the diversified group of ITU researchers.

One of the reasons why BS.1770 today represents such a big leap forward for the entire audio industry is because of the dedication and amount of expertise that research institutes, broadcasters and companies brought into the process: CRC, IRT, USC, McGill University, numerous broadcasters, drive and film experience from Dolby Labs, research and music/post experience from TC Electronic...

Once the relatively simple, yet accurate loudness model found by CRC had been independently verified through a number of tests, the search began for a complementary and up-to-date measurement of peak level. To this end, the Audio Engineering Society lent a helping hand. Consequently, our industry now holds a vastly improved and standardized way of measuring peak level in the digital domain.

BS.1770 has recently been put to practical use in different recommended guidelines by BCAP, ATSC, EBU, as well as Japanese and Australian broadcasters. In particular, EBU's Expert Community on Audio, ECA, and its PLOUD group has put great effort into standardizing important features of loudness measurement and normalization, building on top of BS.1770, thereby specifying truly cross-genre, cross-platform solutions based entirely on open standards, the EBU R128.

A measurement standard with improved transparency and quality has finally arrived for the benefit of all music lovers, cinema-goers and TV listeners. TC Electronic is proud to have contributed with research, verification, true-peak techniques and new tools and descriptors to unleash the full potential of this global standard.

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TC Electronic and RTW

The TC TouchMonitor TM7 & TM9 platform is developed by German pro audio company, RTW, which has been an established developer and manufacturer of professional broadcasting equipment for more than 40 years. By combining high-quality RTW meter types such as the Surround Sound Analyzer with the groundbreaking Radar Meter from TC Electronic, the ultimate stand-alone loudness meter has been created. Quite simply, TC TouchMonitor TM7 & TM9 offers the best from two of the world’s leading pro audio and broadcasting companies in an amazingly innovative and intuitive loudness metering solution.

TC Electronics

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RTW